Ok,
So I know this is probably not what you were all wanting, but if I didn't finish off this blog this way, I'd never get it done. So here is a quick recap of all the things I missed.
On June 21st, the longest day of the year, we visited the Canadian Mission to the EU. Again.
Ironically, this also seemed like one of the longest talks ever. The subject was Canadian journalism and reporting on Europe and EU affairs.
Our first speaker was responsible for liasing with Ottawa and directing reporters to the appropriate officials and essentially making sure that Canada's image in EU press was what Canada wanted it to be.
However, because the EU and Canada share very similar values, there isn't much to report. There were lots of things in the press about the G20 meeting that was happening that weekend, but other than that, one of the more contentious (and I think politically trivial issues) was the Seal Hunt. That's it. Europe was upset by the native Inuit seal hunt.
Other than that, there isn't much drama within the trans-Atlantic partnership between Canada and the EU.
Because of this lack of presence in the press, I felt like this woman's job was pretty obsolete.
After the press rep, a Canadian journalist working for the independant EU Observer, Leigh Phillips, spoke to us about the relationship between the Canadian press and the EU.
Again, while some of his views on EU issues were interesting, I didn't find the talk all that intriguing or stimulating.
The highlight of that day for me was discovering Cliff Tailors (Rue de Tongers 10-12). This amazing haberdashery had a ton of different designer and luxury labels--GANT, Ralph Lauren, Dsquared (a Canadian Label!), Band of Outsiders, etc. I was enamoured with the section of the store that were three floor to ceiling walls of cashmere sweaters. (drool) Unfortunately, I am a poor starving student who is travelling Europe. Sigh.
June 22nd was a day that I had been looking forward to the entire trip. We were supposed to go to the Hague to visit the International Criminal Court and EuroJust. This was going to be the highlight of the trip for me. I could tell. I could already envision myself sitting at the prosecutors desk in the grand chambers with my team of 4 or 5 other lawyers persecuting George Bush and Dick Cheney for crimes against humanity (our argument for Bush was that his stupidity was an insult to the entire species--the judges all agreed).
But this day was going nothing like I had dreamed.
Our first train was fine, got on that one bright and early at 7:30am. But then we had to get off at Antwerp because of some technical malfunction. Then one train that was going straight from Antwerp to the Hague just plain didn't show up. The rail staff were just as confused as we were. After waiting at the train station for 2 hours, we were already 30 minutes late for our meeting.
"No worries," I thought, "This isn't the only meeting we've been late to. Missing 1 1/2 out of a 3 hour tour isn't that bad."
When we finally got on a train destined for the Hague, we were all a little more relaxed. Nicole, Yas, myself, and a bunch of others had soothed our Starbucks cravings with the only Starbucks in Belgium in the train station (they weren't in dress code and things were DEF not made to spec. Who where's black jeans to work at Starbucks? Honestly!).
As I finished my Quad Grande No-Room Americano, we pulled up to Den Haag HS Station with the city off in the not-so-distant distance and Professor Brooks informed us to get our things ready because Den Haag Centraal was our next stop and our final destination. So all of us were buzzing and chatting about this and that.
And about 25 minutes later, we heard the conductor anounce "Schipol" as the next stop. Now all of us stopped talking and looked out the window: fields. We had completely missed the Hague.
We found out later that that train never stops at Den Haag Centraal and that we were on our way to Amsterdam.
Most of us were ecstatic, I was a little dissappointed.
Anyways, we spent the day in Amsterdam (and watched Dr. Brooks try and explain to the lady from the ICC that we wouldn't be making our meeting today while the automated tour guide in the canal cruise was telling us about the construction of the Gentleman's canal.).
The next day we went to Brugge. This city was absolutely gorgeous.
We all wandered to a cathedral that was massively gorgeous. The archways, and artwork (some by Michelangelo), and the sheer grandeur of the building was overwhelming and relaxing at the sametime.
We also climed the famous Belfry Tower and I signed my name in a beam at the top (its ok, it tends to burn down every two hundred years or so....)
Then Victoria and I had probably one of the best meals of the entire trip: sauteed mushrooms, rotisserie chicken wings, camambert, baguette and a basil plant. All for the radically low price of 10 euro for the both of us. The farmer's markets in Europe are AMAZING for this kind of eating.After exploring the city just the two of us and taking a nap in a gorgeous park with the swans, we got back on a train and headed home to Leuven.
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